Waiter
by lightxdark
Summary: Sasuke's lookin for a job and finds one.  A group of people come in where he works at and he can't seem but to be puzzled by one girl's existance in his workplace. Cafe fic.
1. Waiter

Waiter

Uchiha Sasuke was someone who didn't like to depend on others. Whether the support was needed or not didn't mater to him. He just didn't like to depend on others, and that's how he found himself in his current predicament.

He left his one-whole floor apartment, the rent being paid by his brother until just recently, with a scowl etched onto his face. His brother, Uchiha Itachi, wasn't one he could say he favored. Even if he was the only brother he had. They had just got off the phone over a long extensive talk, or rather argument, about who should pay the rent.

His brother would often come to his apartment for some leisure time, using Sasuke as a servant and for his teasing pleasure. After their parents died of an 'unexpected' accident Sasuke had refused to live in the Uchiha mansion for too long with his brother and insistently went to look for apartments. Oh he found one all right, but he needed the money to pay for it.

What about the fortune of his family? What about the will? The fortune was well secured in a high security bank where only certified adult Uchihas could access. Unfortunately that was what was stated in the will as well and since Uchihas were not classified adults till the age of 21, Sasuke was a couple months short of reaching that.

Itachi agreed on him getting an apartment and paying for it for a couple of months. But being the tease he was he told Sasuke to go look for a job and so he did.

And here he was now, in a sophisticated cafe free of children and filled to the brim with adults and teenagers in the morning. How lucky Sasuke was to have finished college at the young age of 15, but Itachi had bested him at graduating at the age 13. Sasuke didn't know if he could have survived the pain and torture of high school girls.

Although being in a college for 2 years with bustling grown ups wouldn't be called relaxing. The prodigy wasn't all that happy when the women would come to squeeze his cheeks or plant kissed on them. His first impression of girls when he was young was that they themselves would never grow up.

"So Sasuke-san why is it that a person of such high status would be trying to get work here? You do have a career don't you? Oh my I just remembered I'm sorry for the loss of your parents, how inconsiderate of me!"

The pudgy old man bowed, he seemed nice enough. Sasuke recalled months before that he saw the jolly round man in a Santa Claus suit ringing a bell and handing sweets to passing by children. Surely he wouldn't bother him or harass him just as the other job managers had done to him in the past.

"Please don't worry too much about it. I do have a career in managing our companies that we have along with my brother, but unfortunately the funds are going into my family's bank account which I can't access yet." Sasuke said with a deep intent to hurt Itachi if he was at his apartment.

"Oh I see…Well we do need some help around here, do you have any experience with working machines? Oh and can you cook and bake?"

"I was taught mechanics by my father and my mother taught me the fundamentals of cooking and baking. I think I can manage." Sasuke said solemnly while thinking of his parents.

"Ah, that's good." The man seemed to be checking things off a clipboard nearing the end of the list. "Last but certainly not least, do you have good social skills?" Sasuke's eyes twitched, that was the one thing he hoped he wouldn't have to answer.

"Honestly I don't have that much experience with contacting other people. I was in a situation where I was too busy to talk to people, much less befriend them or even try to socialize. I'm even surprised myself for telling you so much about my personality."

Which was true, Sasuke didn't know why he was telling this man so many things about himself. If anything this man should have been the last on his list of people to tell. He was just too jolly and happy of a man.

"Well I'm glad you told me so much about yourself Sasuke-san. I knew your father and mother would have loved it if you would socialize some more. You see Sasuke, your father and mother met in this very café."

Sasuke shivered, the death of his parents wasn't something he dwelled on too much. It was just the shock of losing them that stayed in his heart. He knew they were in a nice place and that their deaths were really an accident in the icy roads. What he didn't know was how they got to meet each other.

Now Sasuke was glad he came to this café. Sasuke looked at the manager again he reminded him of his parents, even though his brownish-grey toothbrush mustache and butcher's hair cut didn't really look like either of them. (Thank God).

"That's good to hear. So do I have the job?" Sasuke pleaded with pearly black eyes. The man laughed.

"Of course you do. I'll pay you a good sum of money. My other workers seemed overworked in just 2 days that they had to quit. I hope you won't disappoint me Sasuke-san. What time can you work?"

"Whenever you need me to fill in a gap, I'm free everyday Itachi has given me some 'vacation' time since the death of my parents." The man smiled again and gave a encouraging nudge to Sasuke's arm.

"Don't you have a special someone that you should be catching up with Sasuke-san? Surely a handsome young man like you would have someone." Sasuke chuckled.

"Nope, not yet, women are just too hard to figure out, even for me." He joked. Sasuke wasn't in quite the mood for looking for someone, but played along with the man.

"Let's hope you find someone while working here then. That's how your father met your mother. How many hours can you work?" The man seemed to be in a rush since a movie crowd from across the street was coming by.

"Well, I'm not sure I have plenty of time so I'll work whenever really and I live a couple of blocks down so I can come if someone can't make it."

Sasuke was being overly friendly with this man he didn't even know the name of. But somehow it felt as though he knew him all his life.

"Well that's swell! Now just fill out this form and contact information and we can get you working tomorrow morning!"

With that Sasuke found his first part-time job ever. By the sounds of it, it wasn't going to be a joy ride.

The morning of the first day…

"Sir could you please decide on your order quickly there are customers waiting in line." The rush behind Sasuke and in front of the cashier was hectic.

Employees handling hot and cold coffee right behind him and the push of customers in front, you could say they had to have an orderly system for all of this and Sasuke was one who didn't like to ruin the system.

"Yes um, get me a caramel frappiccino with whipped cream on top. Make it a medium." Sasuke handled the money given to him and the man went to the side line to wait for his order.

Seeing the line grow longer the manager decided to get someone more experienced at the front of the 'to go' line. The man insisted that Sasuke should go bus some tables and ask other people, who were in no rush, if they wanted a drink or snacks.

Cleaning some tables and asking people if things were all right was a snap. The shop was located near a college campus and near a neighboring high school so you would expect some mature people to rise.

But then again you would have your batch of misfits and juvenile delinquents messing up the peace.

Sasuke nearly dropped the plate of crumbs he was carrying when a blonde-man walked passed him and skimmed Sasuke's elbow.

"Excuse me sir, watch where you're going." Sasuke said irritably at the man.

The man just turned around and looked at Sasuke, he looked like he was going to apologize but then stopped and turned back to the table he was heading towards.

_What a rude teme._ Sasuke's eyes followed where the man was going and it settled to a table near the corner window. A woman with long indigo hair sat there reading a book with no refreshments on the table.

She nodded to the man which was a supposed greeting.

"Sasuke-san, see anyone you like?" Sasuke's manager snuck up behind him and chuckled, the morning rush passed by and only some in and out customers were coming in. Some of them even settled down to a table waiting for a waiter or waitress to serve them.

"I doubt it." He retorted to his happy-go-lucky manager.

"Why don't you go serve that young couple down there? They seem to be of need of some service." Sasuke looked back at the booth he was staring at clearly seeing the back of the head of the young woman and the front of the tan blonde.

Before Sasuke agreed however he saw someone else join their table. A brunette male with wrappings over his forehead, he also looked eerily familiar to Sasuke.

"Now go on! They must be waiting for a waiter to wait them ho ho ho." He nudged Sasuke playfully taking the plates away from his hands.

Taking his notepad and pen he went up to them. They two men noticed him but the female didn't show any sign of acknowledgment.

"What can I get for you today?" He grunted towards the two. The male with the brown hair seemed to be scrutinizing him with his eyes.

"Do I know you from somewhere?" The brown haired asked.

"No, now is there anything I can get for you?" The blonde and indigo didn't respond. They didn't seem to have said a word the whole time they were in the café.

"Wait I'm sure I've seen that scowl somewhere." The brunette man said again. Was Sasuke scowling? He should have been by now since the group of people still hasn't answered his question so he could leave.

"Why don't you take a look at my name tag and write it down like a crazed high school girl then." Sasuke was losing his temper, and when he loses his temper who would usually yell at the person with long sentences.

"Uchiha-san?" His eyes went wide. With that the other two people at the table turned their heads to look at him too.

"Yes? Can't you read?" Sasuke was beginning to think that he really did know the man.

"If this is the way you treat your customers I doubt they would stay long enough to read your name tag." Sasuke huffed, so he did know the man. Not any normal and sane person would say that to someone they first met, except for Sasuke.

"Hyuuga Neji, remember me from college couple years back?" Ahh how could Sasuke forget the obnoxious rich kid that also went to school with him at a young age.

"You're from my graduating class, Hyuuga Neji. Graduated at age 16 and went on to take care of a branch company of the Hyuuga companies. That Hyuuga Neji?"

Neji grinded his teeth, "Well of course that's me, I'm not some stuck up kid who hides in his brother's shadow all of the time." _Touché _Sasuke thought to himself

"It's not like I try to be behind him it just happens." Sasuke sighed, tired of arguing for once.

"Same here, I don't try to be in a manager to a branch company it just happens." They both sighed in defeat. They, since being closest in age group at the college, used to spend their days together mostly as studying partners. They acknowledged each other as a true classmate and 'study pal' when things would get tough.

"I'm surprised to see you working here though, equally surprised at your parents death a couple months ago."

"Yes, well I have to continue working since I can't access Uchiha funds, so is there anything you guys would like me to get for you?" He asked again a third time.

"Ah sorry for keeping you up, reminiscing about the past seems to have caught up with us. I'll take a cappuccino, and what about you guys want anything?" Neji said referring to the other two people at the table.

The girl merely smiled at him and so did the other man. Sasuke hadn't the slightest clue at what was going on and just stood there with the pen inches away from the paper, itching to get out of his uniform.

Which was a long sleeve collared white shirt with cuffs, black pants, black shoes, and a bluish-blackish bow tie hanging neatly below his chin. (Like a bartender uniform but more elegant if that's possible)

"They would like a cup of jasmine tea and some coffee…" The blonde man gave puppy dog eyes to Neji with a pleading look. "Put loads of sugar in the coffee as well." The blonde man grinned widely, ruffling Neji's hair a bit.

"Naruto! Quit it." Neji pushed away the man called Naruto to the left.

"That all?" "Yeah, how much would that cost me?" He said while putting up his wallet. Sasuke put the check on the table and left to go get their orders without another word.

"Well you took your time at that table Sasuke-san. What kept you?" The manager asked as Sasuke got the cappuccino ready and boiling water for the tea.

"One of them is from the same graduating class as I am. So we were caught up with the past." Sasuke looked for the small spoons that went with the cappuccino mug and the manager pointed it out for him.

"How 'bout the other two?" Sasuke ducked down to retrieve a fallen straw and discarded it.

"Acquaintances, although I don't know the lady's name." Sasuke got the tray ready and was waiting for the coffee to finish brewing from the freshly ground beans.

"Hmm…She didn't say anything when you asked?" The manager asked as well waiting for a cup of coffee to finish brewing.

"She and the man didn't seem to be saying anything really, and I didn't ask." The coffee was done and he poured it on not forgetting the sugar as well.

"That's a bit odd don't you think?"

"What me not asking? I don't think that's odd." Sasuke laughed.

"No, I meant them not saying anything. Think they're mute?" Sasuke pondered about it, but left without saying an answer to the man as he did with Neji.

He gave them their orders seeing if Naruto and the indigo haired girl would say anything. Yet again, they said not a word but only used body language to get what they were trying to get across.

They left not soon after they got their orders. But the girl stayed seemingly having nothing else to do but read the book. Sasuke left because it was the end of his shift, but he wanted to stay just to see if the girl would say anything.

But that would have been awkward. Staring at a girl you didn't know the name of. He figured she was Neji's relative seeing as to how her eyes were almost the exact color of his.

Little did he know that he would see her later that night on his night shift. Reading the same book he had seen her earlier with.

Sasuke passed by her through the window and caught a glimpse of the Japanese style book's cover.

_The Eternal Night And The Interfering Day._

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Done wit first chapter.

MUAHahahah... Well it wasn't intended as a fun happy fast story. This was just one of the snippets of imagination that seems a bit classic in my mind. I just decided to put it in. I don't think this will be a long fic. probably mayb a 2 shot for when i get bored of Killing Time, my other big fic that I was working on. I'm ganna do another cafe fic that's a bit to contrast with this one. I just love cafe fics. (I dont even know if they're called cafe fics I just made it up) Well yeah I'd call this a cafe fic. So another cafe fic is ganna come maybe a 2 shotter as well.

Oh and the book 'The Eternal Night And The Interfereing Day' Is kind of like a sequal to the other book in Killing Time. I just like things that click. Nothing too serious just some drabble and yada. Review if ya want some more of this. I don't care bout flames, (haven't recieved one yet) but yeah flames are reviews too so i'll gladly take it. -yours truly LightxDark.


	2. The Burnt Cookie and The Dare

The Burnt Cookie and The Dare

Sasuke had been working at the café for a little over a week, and every day and night of that week he would see that woman again. She would come into the café, usually after the morning rush, and as silent as always she would buy a freshly baked cookie, that Sasuke had made himself, off the counter.

She had a distinct way of picking things (cookies in this case). She would shuffle through the sterile wrapped cookies even though in the end she would always pick the last one on the right hand corner.

Sasuke would ring up the cash register waiting for her to say her thanks, instead she gave a polite bow every single time and Sasuke would reply, well with a bow.

Sasuke wasn't a blind fool; there were many signs that she may be mute. She would text instead of talking into the receiver of her cell phone. She would reply most of the time by bowing or smiling. She would look at your eyes to show that she was listening.

But Sasuke never found out, he could ask her but that may seem insensitive and as if he should have known it by now.

He asked Neji once but he just laughed saying, "What do you think?" in a sarcastic manner, neither leaning to either side of 'she is' or 'she isn't'

He wondered why he didn't ask Neji for her name. But remembered again that it didn't matter if he knew or not, maybe he was just curious. But then again, curiosity is man's worst trait and he was itching to find out.

She read many text books; Sasuke realized that she was in college still. Not that there was anything wrong with that, he just figured that since she was Neji's relative that she would have been a natural genius.

He also figured that she was probably a very distant cousin to the main family. She didn't show any signs of superiority or leadership. She was more of a modest person, judging by the way she dressed, and she was…how would any other person describe her?

Serene was maybe the right word, although she usually wasn't so serene when exams came around.

"Hah" Sasuke laughed out loud to himself, gaining looks and stares at people from nearby tables. He caught himself thinking about her again. He had to admit that his mind wandered from time to time.

Usually catching himself off guard while pouring coffee or baking cookies. Once he even poured coffee into baking dough. He could have burnt the café down if it wasn't for the manager helping him out.

Still they had tried selling the slightly, very slightly, burnt cookies. Passing it off as a new experiment to customers, some even said that they liked it. Sasuke remembered that day all too well. Remembering how the indigo haired woman still shuffled through nice evenly cooked cookies, but settled on the burnt cookie to the right again.

He remembered eyeing the cookie with a cocked eyebrow, arms to his sides. Still she smiled as always and continued on her way.

"Would you like me to refresh your drink miss?" She nodded while looking up into his eyes. He shook a bit while taking her cold neglected tea.

Right after he left, he accidentally nudged the man named Naruto with his elbow.

"Sorry." Sasuke said assuming he wouldn't get an answer since the first time he bumped into him.

"Oh sorry 'bout that. Errr Sasuke." Naruto read off his name tag and quickly went to sit next to the girl instead of across from her. For one Sasuke was shocked, he hadn't heard him say a word since well… Ever!

What was the deal with him talking now??? Sasuke turned on his heel and went back to refreshing the lady's drink. When Sasuke went back to give the tea to the lady he could see Naruto whispering something in her ear.

She laughed a silent one and nodded her head. Naruto turned his head to look at me surprised to see me coming staring at him as well. He jerked his head back to the lady hoping Sasuke wouldn't notice.

_How obvious idiot. _Sasuke knew he was talking about him, but he wondered what about. Sasuke set the tea cup on the table and she smiled at him.

"Ne Hinata-chan you want anything else?"

Sasuke felt as though he couldn't communicate with Naruto. He didn't make any sense at all. Why was he sorry about asking if she wanted something? Was she on a diet? Why'd girl think about that anyway?

Sasuke was stuck in question frenzy with himself again. He did that a lot, he would day dream and talk to himself if he was alone. Call it a psychological state he was in since he was little. His mother thought it was cute, but his father thought there was something wrong with him.

Of course Sasuke could stop at will, but liked it when his mother would join him in his question frenzies.

"I'd like to get some English tea put some honey in it too please." He seemed to have changed his taste since last week, although he still had a sweet tooth.

"Right away." Sasuke looked away with a weird look on his face. Still pondering with his earlier questions, Naruto looked back and saw him walk away. They both seemed to be conversing, but he couldn't see the lady's lips move.

Sasuke came back with Naruto's drink quickly. Waiting to see what they would do next.

Naruto looked at the girl named 'Hinata' and her last name was probably Hyuuga.

_At least I know her name now…_ He was going to turn and walk away, but a sudden question stopped him.

"Care to join us Sasuke?" Sasuke's head was about to have a popped vain. _How informal!_ Sasuke wasn't used to people being so close to him and it irritated him.

"Well why not? Seems it's about my break time was well." He waved to his boss and his boss waved back knowing what Sasuke was saying.

He sat down opposite them. Naruto's arm was hooked to Hinata's shoulder which Sasuke stared at.

"Well this is strange isn't it? You're almost a complete stranger to us." Naruto laughed. He stuck his hand out as though he was greeting himself, which he was.

"Uzumaki Naruto, and this here is Hyuuga Hinata." He pointed out. Sasuke shook his hand firmly, and right after she stuck her hand out as well.

"Uchiha Sasuke" He lightly grasped her hand then let go. He hadn't expected her to stick out her hand. He was half hoping she would just nod like she always did.

"You do remember us from the other day right? Yeah we heard your whole conversation with Neji. Gotta be a tough life having no parents." Naruto sighed.

"What? Did something happen to your parents?" Naruto shrugged his shoulders.

"I don't know. I was brought to an orphanage when I was young. I don't know who brought me there or anything. All I know is that my name's Uzumaki Naruto." He said as though he said it many times before.

"Heh, tough life. My brother's all I got with me now. So I guess I have to make the most of it." Sasuke laughed. Naruto grinned.

"You guys didn't seem very talkative the last time we…conversed?" Half sounding like a question Sasuke waited for their answer.

Naruto looked at Hinata and then looked back at Sasuke. "Well yeah, Neji didn't tell you why we weren't talking back then?" Sasuke shook his head.

"Well it was a dare." "A dare?" Sasuke asked immediately after Naruto.

"A dare, Hinata-chan and I were given this dare from Neji just before we met you last week. 'I dare you not to talk for the whole week.' Was what he said. I couldn't back down so I had to do it. But Hinata-chan had to pop in at the same moment and she was roped into the dare too!" He laughed so hard thinking of the many times he needed to talk.

"Seriously it was hard to do. I can't see how Hinata-chan can do it all the time. Once I had to ask for directions for the toilet and I was walking around the mall trying to look for it for about an hour. Till I settled for a plant in the mall, Hah good times…good times."

Both Hinata and Sasuke were chuckling. So that's why she wasn't talking the whole week, she was so devoted to such a silly little game. Naruto put his hands up shrugging his shoulders as well.

"I obviously lost after the first day. I almost spilled the beans after the first 3 hours." Naruto laughed.

"Wait…the first day? Then why was er… Hinata-san so quiet the whole week??" Hinata blushed and Naruto just kept on laughing like he was high.

"When she's shy, for whatever reason, she stops talking. I've been trying to find her the whole week, but she's been hanging around here the whole time." He slumped back in his seat and put his arm around Hinata's shoulder again.

Sasuke had his suspicions that there was a reason she was here. Was it to see someone? That can't be…well actually it could, the whole staff was male and many girls would come to the café. That didn't bother him that much, what did bother him though was how Naruto would put his arm around Hinata, even though clearly she was uncomfortable by it.

"Naruto you should take your arms off Hinata-san." Sasuke said just to give the girl some slack. Hinata's blush blew up and a smoke puff cam out of her head. Naruto took his arm off, but then put his hand to touch her forehead.

"Ne Hinata-chan I'm sorry was I making you warm?" His breath hit her ears and her eyes were beginning to show she was dizzy.

_Man this guy is dense!_ Sasuke's mouth was open and his eyebrows were questioning if this guy was for real. He obviously didn't know how to handle women…Sasuke didn't either but its not like he was making girls faint. (He has no idea how many women faint after he leaves.)

"Hey idiot you should back away from her if she's hot." Naruto's eyes went straight to Sasuke's.

"Who are you calling an idiot?!" Naruto almost yelled, Sasuke hadn't meant to call him that. Who wouldn't call him that? There were so many obvious signs that she was going to faint.

"Sorry it just slipped out." That didn't help Naruto's pride.

"I want an apology teme." He crossed his arms taking them away from Hinata. She was relieved and Sasuke was glad for that. At least she wasn't suffocating.

"I did apologize. Or did it just go through one ear and out the other?" Sasuke retorted. Many people around them had taken notice for their little battle; you could see sparks flaring everywhere.

The 'hmmphed' and looked away from each other. Naruto was looking away from Hinata, while Sasuke turned his head to the left. His right eye catching Hinata laugh at the scene, he smiled.

Even if it was just a laugh he had to admit her voice was cute. He had hoped to hear it soon, but they had to depart ways when Naruto dragged Hinata to the front to pay for their drinks.

Sasuke followed because his break time was up. So he rung the cash register and they paid for it. Hinata was looking at the cookies that Sasuke had made and put into the oven before his break. The manager probably took it out for him, for that Sasuke was grateful.

Sasuke picked up a cookie from his left hand corner and gave it to her. Naruto was glaring at Sasuke the whole time. She reached out into her small handbag to get her money but Sasuke cut her off.

"Don't worry about it, it's on the house. After all I burnt them a little." She smiled like she always did, he wanted to smile back but his lack of smiling since…forever made him stiff.

"Thank you Sasuke-san." Her voice was sweet and melodic. She took the cookie from his hand, slightly brushing his hand with hers she blushed. She went back to Naruto who took notice to this and told Hinata to wait for him at the corner of the street.

"Oi. Sasuke you shouldn't be so cuddly with someone else's girlfriend." Naruto spat at Sasuke who was still standing at the counter. Sasuke didn't seem fazed.

"I was just being friendly." Sasuke attempted to smile again, but it was stiff like before. Besides he didn't want to smile a fake smile if it would just make him pull a muscle.

Naruto left with a scowl. Sasuke sighed and put his hand through his hair. "No harm in being friendly with someone you barely know. Way to go Sasuke." He said to himself and sighed again. Somewhere behind him his manager was laughing.

"I'm pathetic." He took a deep breath and resumed his work at the register.


	3. Makeup

Sasuke sat on a bench in a small park without his uniform on for once. The time was…well he didn't know what time it was, his watch ran out of juice and apparently his cell phone had decided to take a sleep over at the café. He grunted with obvious dissatisfaction of his absent minded behavior causing some children around him to run off.

"Sasuke" a voice called behind him. He turned his head the slightest bit, and to no surprise his brother was leaning against a black car. Sasuke sent him a small glare which Itachi merely smiled to.

"Shouldn't you be at work, Itachi?" Sasuke folded his arms over his chest, not expecting a straight answer from him.

"Shouldn't YOU be at work, Sasuke?" He mimicked Sasuke's voice and his actions by folding his arms too. Itachi rolled his head on the pivot of his neck and put a hand behind his neck sighing. In the silence Itachi planned his next move.

"Sasuke…" He pressed himself to continue with his train of thought. Before he could continue Sasuke spoke.

"I was forced to have the day off." Sasuke unraveled his arms and put it around the bench, staring at the blue cloud sky.

"You say that like it's a bad thing." Itachi said, unaware of how Sasuke liked to consume his time by working off his sad thoughts…you could call him a workaholic.

"Isn't it? All this free time is making me sick." Sasuke remembered again that he didn't know how much free time he had already spent, but thought the statement was true enough.

"Sasuke, it probably wouldn't make you sick if you just go spend some time for yourself instead of--"

"Urusai! You know I can't do that, not after what happened to them." Sasuke's position changed, he had his elbows on his knees and his hands on the back of his head. He was exasperated at himself for being such an emotional masochist.

"What happened to them isn't your fault Sasuke. Now let's get out of this place before you go through an emotional breakdown." Itachi crept behind Sasuke and gently tapped his back; Sasuke flinched at his touch, but calmed down.

"Give me a little more time here. You know this was their favorite place to go together. Just give me more time…" He said more to himself than to Itachi. Itachi removed his hand from Sasuke's back and decided to take a seat next to him.

Itachi looked around the park. Everything was repaired from the damage given to it months ago; even the lamppost his parents had crashed into was replaced with a new one. The car was replaced. The people in it however…could never be replaced.

"Is irony the word for it?" Itachi said out loud, he resumed his mimicry by putting his arms behind the bench as Sasuke had done before. Sasuke turned his head from his hands.

"You're going to make me ask aren't you?" Itachi smiled at Sasuke.

"My dear brother, you've already known the answer to what you have already asked." Sasuke contemplated for a moment, his mind asking the round of questions he liked to have with himself.

"Fine, I'll bite. What is, or is not, irony the word for, dear brother?" Itachi frowned a little, but tried to lighten the mood with a forced smile.

"Would you call our parents dying in the place they sought solace--irony?" Itachi put his hands on his lap and slouched on the bench a little.

"Maybe." That was that. Sasuke had to stop his mind from drawing the other way. He had to stop thinking that the crash was his fault…That it was his fault they had to go to the park for a place to think, even if I was icy. That it was his fault for making them frustrated enough to go for a drive…That it was his fault they died.

He had to stop thinking.

With a rush he started up on his feet and ran. The wind hit his ears almost blocking out his brother's yells. His pace was quick, but he could feel the pull of his dress pants making it harder for him to run.

The cool misty air felt good against his pale skin, the sun hid behind the clouds often playing peek-a-boo when someone was looking. He ran faster, longer, and louder through the trees, the streets, and through crowds.

He ran until he forgot why he was running and slowed down to an eerily familiar place, although he could swear that he has never been here. He waited for his stomach to stop its flips and churning, he felt like vomiting although there was no food to vomit. Bile lined his throat attempting to jump out, he swallowed it back down forcefully leaving his throat dry.

He put hand against a nearby pillar that was aligned with other pillars that held up a gate in between.

He refocused his eyes as his body swayed with twitching legs, he leaned toward the wall, his hand making sure he was still in balance.

There were people, lots of them, all of them about his age, and chatty among themselves. He took in his surroundings trying to ascertain where he was.

None of the people seemed to take notice of his appearance; they couldn't see him hiding behind the pillar that was the farthest away from the gate they were exiting from. He vaguely remembered what he was wearing he glanced down hopeful that he would fit in.

He wore a dark blue dress shirt of the finest quality the first two buttons unbuttoned for his comfort; fortunately he was wearing a t-shirt under that so he looked more laidback. His black slacks stood out among the blue jeans of the young crowd, his black dress shoes did too. He winced at the painful sores he had on his feet, he would have to get that checked later.

As he was looking at his feet, something rolled right along by and hit his foot. His eyes widened a little as he picked up the item.

_A…Makeup? _He couldn't comprehend what exactly it was, but he was pretty sure it was something along those lines. He looked around for the girl (Or boy) that might have dropped it.

Then he saw it, a backpack open just slightly at its smaller pouch. He considered being the nice guy and just giving it to her, he also considered not being so nice and throwing it at her…either way at least the girl got it back right?

Being the, reluctant, yet nice guy he was trying to be he decided on the first consideration.

"Hey. Hey you, you dropped your makeup." He said lowly at first, but the girl kept walking away. He made an irritated grunt and walked faster to be right behind her.

"Hey miss, you dropped something." She didn't hear him, her constant chattering into her cell phone might have been that cause to that. His patience ran thin, here he was trying to be nice, and here this GIRL was ignoring him!

"Hey! I'm trying to give you something you've dropped here!" He whirled her around, and a loud gasp was in the air.

Now this girl was probably very popular since another or two other cell phones rang in her purse, but she ignored them and stared at Sasuke with eyes so wide he didn't know if they could close again. Her gasp had caused many around to stare at them, if they weren't already staring at the popular girl already.

"You're…" she started, her eyes sparkling and cherry lips trembling. Sasuke was startled at her gasp and pause he expected her to slap him for taking charge so forcefully, instead all he got were stares. She was awed at something Sasuke didn't know what.

"Uchiha-san? What are you doing here?" A third voice interrupted the staring, Sasuke angled his body to the voice and took this chance to put the makeup into the awed woman's hands and retreat to the interrupting voice.

"Just returning a lost item." He didn't look back at the chatty girl as she fumbled with the makeup in her hands. "Let's get out of here." He grabbed Hinata's hand and started power walking away from the forming crowd. He was in a rush to get out of there, Hinata was unexpectedly obedient in his demand for a faster pace.

Once they were out of the area, stopped for a break. He was fine, but apparently Hinata wasn't. Her breathing was a tad heavy and she had sweat forming at her brow. They sat down at a bench and, took a moment to calm down. He looked at her again.

"Sorry, that was…weird…" He hesitated looking for the right word. She nodded agreeing with him. Sasuke didn't realize there was a third person with them until he took this silence to speak.

"_Hinata…_who is this person? Why did he drag us out here?" A deep voice sprang from besides Hinata. Sasuke hadn't noticed the sound of three pairs of feet when they were running. He was dressed in a casual manner and had two backpacks around him.

Hinata was still tired at the over-extensive run. "Hinata you know not to run right after you've already had a workout, you're stressing yourself out too much." He pulled a water bottle out of the boyish looking bag and gave it to her. She chugged it down as gracefully as she could and wiped her mouth with a handkerchief.

"Uchiha Sasuke" Sasuke told the red-headed man. Sasuke stuck out his hand for a shake, but got a measly little nod of the head.

"Gaara" he didn't have many words for Sasuke. Hinata was frantic as the interaction occurred she looked like she was hoping for maybe something more from Gaara. Her expression was a little depressed, but she went on and put a smile on anyway.

"So…Sasuke-san, you know that girl back there?" She pointed her head in the direction they came from.

"Absolutely not!" He said a little bit too defiantly. "I mean, she just dropped something and I returned it to her. Then for some reason she made a yelp or gasp or something." He scratched the back of his head.

"Oh…Gaara do you know her?" He took a while to answer. Judging from his silence they took that as a 'no', but maybe they thought too soon.

"She _does_ seem familiar, but we don't keep up with _that_ kind of business do we, Hinata?" Sasuke took a note on how they spoke to each other on a first name only basis, maybe he was even a bit jealous at that.

"I guess not." She smiled faintly, almost regrettably at how oblivious she has been to the world around her. She was calmer now, and she didn't look as faint as she did earlier.

"Sasuke what are you doing here anyway?" She questioned with a puzzled look. "If I remember correctly you went to college with Nii-san back in the day." She laughed at using words that old people would use when reminiscing about old times.

"That was a college?" Sasuke asked sounding a tad stupid in Hinata's and Gaara's opinions.

"Of course. Didn't you see all of those people carrying bags? They're a bit too old for high school." Gaara spoke quite all knowingly. Sasuke glared at him, he could see that they weren't going to get along that well. Hinata fretted what to do as their glares made sparks fly.

"Well I apologize for grabbing you so roughly, Hinata-san." Gaara's head flew up as Sasuke spoke semi-formally to her.

"It's okay…" A blush adorned her face at his words. Both Sasuke and Gaara took a long look at her face while she looked away.

"It's not okay with me though. I didn't expect that we were going to go at such a speed _after_ Hinata and I already worked out enough." Sasuke kept his chin up, facing Gaara.

"I never said I was apologizing to you. Also, I don't remember holding your hand and bringing you here." He folded his arms and stared at Gaara for his next come back. They didn't notice how Hinata's face kept on turning gradually into different shades of red.

"I go wherever she goes." Gaara put an allowed hand on her shoulder, she didn't seem to mind except that her face grew expectantly lighter.

Sasuke sighed. "Shall we find some place to enjoy ourselves then? Lunch maybe?" He spoke to Hinata, but Gaara cut in.

"No thanks, _we_ already have a lunch date planned for today." Hinata didn't seem to object, except for his choice of wording.

"Oh, then I can join you right, Hinata-san? Great! Now where should we start heading to." Sasuke responded early to Hinata's nod, he feared that Gaara might interrupt her answer. Gaara still was trying to put up a fight against him.

"Ah where were we going to go, Gaara?" She looked up to see his face.

"We were undecided remember?" Her eyes showed that she remembered. He smiled softly at her, the way he stared at her made Sasuke think of someone looking at puppies or kittens. Hinata did remind him of a baby animal, as vulgar as it sounded to him. He involuntarily shivered at the thought of a _human_ baby, the vomit, the diapers, the very disgusting … His train of thought was disrupted thankfully.

"Sasuke-san any ideas?" She looked brightly up to where he was standing, his arms still crossed. She looked pale; in fact they all looked pale in the now scorching sun. The clouds were hiding behind buildings somewhere letting all of the sun to shine. Eating outside would not be one of his choices, he preferred the indoors.

"Maybe we should go out for some ramen then?" Hinata suggested while Sasuke thought on. They both looked at her incredulously. "I heard eating something hot on a hot day is good for you, I think…" She trailed off thoughtfully.

"Ramen it is then." Gaara agreed. They began to lead the way to their favorite ramen restaurant. Sasuke followed on from behind them scrutinizing them.

_This is confusing…_Sasuke looked on at the two in front of him. _That Naruto guy said Hinata has a boyfriend…is Naruto that boyfriend? Or is it Gaara?_

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Author's notes--yeahh really slow, check my profile for the info you need on any other of my fics. Sorry for being such a loser at this

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